- 97% of all consumer hardware start-ups fail
WHY?
9 out of the top 20 reasons start-ups fail (and five out of the top 10) were related to CX - not meeting customer needs, not listening to them, or flat-out ignoring them.
The number ONE reason start-ups fail was 'no market need.' NO Customers. Start-ups fail when they are not solving a market problem. When the business model doesn't solve a customer pain point in a scalable way.
Nearly the same number of reasons for failure (seven of the top 20) were related to the people and/or culture of the company (EX). Not having the right people on board. Team building is important and oft neglected by the company founder(s). A lack of focus or passion or both dooms start-ups.
It's noteworthy that only two of the top 20 reasons start-ups fail was due to money or lack of. What this tells you is that failure rates are people related - inside and outside the company. The most tragic failures happen when people inside the company don't care about customers, or don't cultivate a culture centered on the customer.
The moral of this warning to entrepreneurs: Customers must be your priority and their needs must be in sync with employee objectives. Ignoring either will result in failure.
The CX - Why It's So Important
Product development and operational excellence drive innovation and increase sales. However, every company should be innovating in the customer experience and view it as a top priority. CX must be a deliberate, distinct, disciplined effort.
CX innovation differs from other kinds of innovation as it starts with the customers purchase journey. But knowing that CX is the primary way to compete and win in today's market how to get there is another story. Here's what you need to do.
CX Innovation As Priority
Just like any product or service provided by the company, CX needs a dedicated space, process, program and staff. The purpose is to identify, develop, and test new CX ideas. The idea is to facilitate a test-and-learn approach to CX. This can start out small with minimal investment, but any CX effort must have two clear
criteria:
1. Does it solve a problem for the customer?
2. Does it enhance the customer relationship?
Collect data from sales staff, company management, outside consult.
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| Contact us for developing your CX programs or Bootcamps |
Must Have Company-wide CX Training
Every company needs to cultivate a CX mindset throughout the business. Every employee needs to know who your customers are and what their needs and journeys are. They need to be motivated to adopt new ways of doing and thinking. They need to be empowered to implement new CX programs and work together to support the desired CX.
Set up a CX Bootcamp to train employees about the ideal customer's behaviors and their emotional pull to purchase.
Everyone Must Be Involved with Solving CX Problems.
Employees know how important CX is, as they are all customers themselves and aware of the problems customers encounter. To encourage and instill a strong sense of ownership for CX improvement is not an over-burdensome task.
On of the ways to improve CX is to assign to an employee or several a customer pain-point and ask her (them) to develop a solution for it. It is surprising how good the solutions are as the employee puts themselves in the customer's place.
CX and EX are the two must important business issues of the day and into the future. They are inexorably connected and need to be developed and nurtured simultaneously. Fund-House, along with the 4M Performance model can assist with both your CX and EX issues - contact us for a verbal, free consult. Don't let you start-up fail due to CX issues.
Best,
Jim Lavorato
Principal Fund-House Ventures, LLC
www.fundhouse.com
jlavorato@fundhouse.us
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